Melbourne Theatre Company announces Martina Murray as new Executive Producer/Deputy CEO

Jane Hansen AO, Chair of Melbourne Theatre Company, and Artistic Director and Co-CEO Anne- Louise Sarks, has announced Martina Murray as the Company’s new Executive Producer/Deputy CEO.

Martina Murray | Photo by Pia Johnson

The new role of Executive Producer/Deputy CEO will form part of the leadership executive and oversee the departments responsible for producing, making and delivering the Company’s artistic output, from the productions to interconnecting programs, initiatives and pathway opportunities. Created to better support the realisation of the Company’s new Artistic Vision, the Executive Producer/Deputy CEO will also ensure the vision aligns to a long-term strategy ensuring it continues to evolve and develop sustainably.

‘On behalf of the Board, we welcome Martina Murray’s appointment. Martina brings a wealth of experience to this role and will provide continuity and support as the company transitions to a new Executive Director/Co-CEO and embarks on the first season under Anne-Louise Sarks’ artistic direction.’ said Jane Hansen AO, Chair.

Adding to Ms Hansen’s praise of the appointment, Anne-Louise Sarks said: ‘Martina Murray is the perfect person to take on this important and demanding new role and shape it. In her time at the Company, she has proved herself an exceptional producer: capable, creative and tireless. Presented with seemingly impossible challenges, she does not stop working until she finds a way to help an artist find what they are reaching for. At an exciting moment for Melbourne Theatre Company, when we are taking large strides into the future, Martina’s deep knowledge and talent will be of incredible value.’

‘This is an incredible opportunity.’ Said Murray, sharing her excitement about the appointment. ’There is no better time than now to step into this new role and I am thrilled to be furthering my working relationship with Anne-Louise to realise her artistic vision. It is a remarkable team at Melbourne Theatre Company, and I look forward to our working together to continue to build on the rich suite of works and pathway opportunities the Company develops and produces.

Murray, a producer and arts leader with twenty years’ experience across the independent, not-for- profit and commercial arts sectors, first worked with Ms Sarks when Executive Producer of the acclaimed independent company The Hayloft Project. Murray has a long history with Melbourne Theatre Company, first working for the Company as a freelance stage manager in 2003.

In 2012 she was appointed Associate Producer of Melbourne Theatre Company, and has since held various positions within the Artistic Team. During her time at the Company, she has founded industry-first initiatives, such as the Women in Theatre Program and NEON, MTC’s award-winning independent theatre festival. She has logistically overseen the programming of more than 100 productions, numerous tours, buy-ins of internationally acclaimed works, the implementation of various initiatives and artist supports, and currently leads a team of Producers and Company Management to support the company’s artistic output.

A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, and alumni of the Australia Council’s Emerging Leaders Development Program, Martina is a regular mentor for early career people in the arts, has sat on several assessment panels for funding bodies and programming organisations and has been involved with Boards and Committees, most recently for one of Australia’s leading experimental theatre companies, THE RABBLE.

Martina will commence her new role in January 2023.


Header photo by Heath Warwick

Gabi Bergman

Gabi Bergman is a Melbourne-based performer and educator, and is the current Deputy Editor-in-Chief of AussieTheatre.com. She holds a Double Arts degree in Theatre Studies and Film/Screen Studies and a Master of Teaching (Secondary Education). Gabi has always been an avid lover of theatre, specifically musicals, and spends way too much money than she’d like to admit on tickets. Her most prized possession is her crate of theatre programs.

Gabi Bergman

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